


Consequence

by calmena



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Drunken Shenanigans, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 09:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calmena/pseuds/calmena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a bet and then everything just sort of… deteriorates.</p><p>Or, Gavin and Michael are idiots, Ray wants to help and there's some kissing and a lot of angst - not always in that order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consequence

"I bet you a hundred dollars that you won’t…" Ray pauses, looking around in an attempt to find something worthy of being part of a bet. They’re both on their fifth (or is it their sixth?) beer and are beyond tipsy by this point, but their bets get more ridiculous the more drunk they are so Michael is awaiting the following words with about as much dread as he is looking forward to them.

He can see the moment when Ray’s eyes hone in on where Gavin is talking to Geoff (something involving a lot of hand gestures and even more loud laughter, and the special kind of flailing that is peculiar to Gavin when he is drunk and always makes Michael wait for him to throw something off a table with one of his sweeping movements).

An evil grin comes over Ray’s lips and Michael’s stomach sinks, brain already working to think of all the possible bets Ray could have just thought of, but he’s still surprised, in the end.

"I bet you won’t go up there and make out with Gavin."

Crossing his arms, Ray looks at Michael smugly, while he stares incredulously, voice rising to an unnaturally high pitch, as he asks, “You want me to what?"

"Kiss Gavin for a hundred bucks. What, have I finally found a bet you’re turning down?"

For a moment longer, Michael stares, then shakes his head in disbelief. “You spend too much time on the internet. Where you on the mavin tag, again?"

Ray doesn’t answer one way or another (which is basically an admission of guilt in Michael’s book and he snorts), he just rolls his eyes.

"Whatever," Ray waves it away, ignoring Michael’s mocking laugh. “What, now. Do you take the bet?"

For a moment, Michael hesitates, questioning the wisdom of the action, but he is drunk after all. So it’s not a big surprise when he ends up shoving his doubts aside and nods. “Sure. I’ll get a hundred bucks out of it, why not."

He marches over before he can see the way Ray is undoubtedly grinning, berating himself for taking the bet already. Really, with this one, Ray can only win. Either he gets a hundred bucks from Michael, or he has material for his Mavin-fueled fantasies or whatever else he gets out of this.

Gavin is still talking and Michael has half a mind to wait until he’s finished the conversation (or the sentence, at least), but Geoff is pointing him out and Gavin turns, focusing a bright smile on him and Michael almost smiles back just as brightly, because Gavin’s good mood is actually pretty fucking contagious.

"Hi, Michael!" he chirps, like they hadn’t seen each other at work that day, or when Michael came to Geoff’s house for this, in the first place.

"Hi, Gavin," he says anyway, letting some of the usual impatience he doesn’t actually feel most of the time slip into his voice, because that’s what he does and Gavin knows that even in his drunken state because his bright smile doesn’t wobble even a second.

Geoff nods at Michael as he turns away to leave, laughing quietly when Michael scowls at being left alone with an incredibly drunk Gavin, no matter that it is actually convenient for the bet he has to fill and that he doesn’t actually mind half as much as he makes it seem.

"You having fun?" he asks while Ray is giving him a shit-eating grin and a thumbs up from somewhere behind Gavin. Michael frowns disappointedly at him for it and he’s so busy making an angry face at the guy that he completely misses Gavin talking until he notices the silence.

Michael turns back to Gavin, only to find a keen stare aimed at himself, and he feels a little bad, having missed the answer completely, but the way Ray is staring at them urges him to get the kiss over and done with so he can just forget about the damn bet, because he regrets agreeing to it, already.

"Ugh, god. I’ll just get this over with."

Gavin has all of a second to look at him in drunken confusion before Michael grabs him by the collar and abruptly pulls him in.

Their lips meet in a way that is almost painful, teeth clashing and then they freeze and there is a moment of Michael thinking that this might be his worst kiss ever, before Gavin softens his mouth and relaxes, transforming an almost painful mash of teeth into an honest-to-god almost-acceptable kiss. It might actually be sort of nice, Michael thinks for a second, in the privacy of his own mind, while their lips move against each other.

It’s not until he feels Gavin’s hands scrabble at his shoulders, that he pulls himself out of it, figuring the kiss has been going on for long enough. Pulling away, he takes a step back, dislodging Gavin’s hands from his shoulders in the process.

"What-", Gavin starts and now that his eyes aren’t the only part of Gavin’s face Michael can see, he actually seems kind of flustered and – is he blushing?

Michael grunts, feeling strangely off-kilter after the kiss himself, lips tingling in a way that’s almost pleasurable. “Was a bet," he says before Gavin can start spinning tales in his head because that idiot’s imagination is crazy.

He looks over Gavin’s shoulder, where Ray is still standing, and he grins and holds up a thumb, pleased at the way Ray’s expression is a little disappointed. “Yeah, didn’t expect that, did you?" he mutters to himself, even though the feeling of success he expected at winning the bet is missing. A hundred bucks, just like that. Easy money, really.

Gavin giggles uneasily and for a moment Michael feels bad for just planting one on him without checking. But then Gavin seems to shake the last of the shock off, since he just slings an arm around his shoulder and says something about needing another beer and Michael thinks it’s not going to matter, since Gavin is probably not going to remember anything about the whole evening, anyway, if he continues drinking much longer.

(He does. But he remembers, anyway.)

–

The problem is, Gavin remembers all too well. It’s plainly obvious in the way he tries sending Michael covert glances the next day, never mind that he fails at stealth in a way that inspires amused pity in Michael.

He does feel a little bad for the kiss, now that he sees how much it obviously bothers Gavin, but he can’t turn back time, and apologizing would just be drawing attention to it, so he’s left feeling vaguely guilty all day. The uneasiness in the back of his mind makes itself known in him shouting a little more than usual at Ray (because he had thought of the bet, the asshole) and being a bit more helpful and responsive when Gavin has one of his weird ideas in a Let’s Play.

In return not only Gavin, but everyone starts sending him glances and wow, stealthy, they are not. It makes Michael even more antsy, even more prone to shouting at everyone (bar Gavin).

At some point, Ray seems to figure it out, because the startled glances vanish and are replaced by knowing grins. Michael is so very tempted to take his bottle of water and empty it over Ray’s head. He’s pretty sure the hundred bucks were not worth the guilt bubbling in his stomach and the strain it is still putting on his and Gavin’s friendship. Because Gavin is definitely avoiding him and it makes Michael want to punch the wall, especially when they’re recording a Let’s Play and Gavin’s jokes are just so much less silly and he is far more quiet than usual.

The confused glances that had only been focused on Michael before start moving between the two of them and it’s not surprising that they make a connection between their behavior, with the way they’ve been acting, but still… Michael grits his teeth and continues playing, but on the inside he feels uneasiness at the thought of one or more of the guys interfering, because that’s no doubt what they will try to do if Gavin and him don’t figure it out themselves, and fast.

None of them are completely happy with the recorded material when they finish. It’s written all over their faces that they think it turned out too quiet, too tense, not funny enough, but it’s not getting any better the longer they record, so they decide stop for the day. Gavin looks like he can’t wait to get home and he’s wearing the face Michael recognizes as the one where he’s beating himself up over performing below his own expectations during a Let’s Play and it’s just been a long day in general, already and it’s only noon.

Making a split second decision, Michael rolls his chair over to where Gavin is sitting. Nudging him, he smiles and ignores the panicked expression Gavin is too slow to hide for it to go unnoticed, even though it makes his stomach drop and his bad conscience flare up once more.

"Hey, you did fine," he says, smiling even though he’s pretty sure it looks more like a grimace. Gavin seems to have a similar problem with his own face, if his reaction is anything to go by. It’s obvious that he tries to smile, it just ends up as a grimace. “Thanks, Michael."

They sit in awkward quietness for a moment, something that would normally be completely foreign to them because they are never awkward around each other, which makes it even more uncomfortable, somehow. Geoff passes by them and gives Michael a pointed look over Gavin’s shoulder and Michael decides to just suck it up. “Want to get food?"

For a moment it looks like Gavin is going to bolt, the panic once again appearing in his eyes for only just long enough for Michael to pick up on it. Before he can refuse (and he was going to, Michael is dishearteningly sure of that) Geoff throws in a, “Get me a burger while you’re out!" And then there are even more shouted orders and suddenly they’re responsible for getting everyone lunch and there’s no way for Gavin to back out anymore.

That doesn’t mean that actually talking about the kiss ends up being easy, though. They’re quiet as they’re sitting in the car, and Michael is thinking of a way to start off the talk, because he doesn’t want to alienate Gavin even more and oh god, he hates things like this, there’s just so much that can go wrong with this talk. Next to him, Gavin is fidgeting and Michael wishes he would say something, but he stays stubbornly silent until Michael forces a quick, “Sorry" past his lips as he’s already pulling into the parking lot.

Gavin seems to forget about being uncomfortable for a moment, as he looks at Michael with surprise in his eyes. “What?"

"About yesterday," Michael adds, still vague and if he didn’t think it’d be impossible, he’d swear Gavin blushes a little right then. “I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d be comfortable with that."

"It’s fine," Gavin says immediately, but there’s something weird about his expression and then he starts fiddling with the seat-belt to get out, while Michael is still looking at him.

Opening the door, Gavin turns and no, it’s definitely not fine, because what he does with his face still resembles a grimace more than a smile. “What, are you coming or not? Don’t leave me to carry everything on my own." Michael thinks about telling Gavin that it’s obviously not fine, that they’re not finished talking. But then, will talking change anything? Will it actually make the tension between them disappear? Maybe it will just make everything even worse. He decides he doesn’t want to find out.

So they get the food and they drive back, each of them trying and failing to act as usual. They ignore the expectant look of the others in the office and they also ignore the way their faces fall a little when it gets obvious that Gavin and Michael are still not talking to each other more than absolutely necessary, dooming everyone else to jokes that are supposed to lighten the atmosphere, only for them to fall painfully and awkwardly short. It makes filming Let’s Plays impossible, which nobody voices aloud, but they might have as well because they’re all thinking it.

Everyone turns to editing what video material they have after a while. Michael tries to concentrate on the rage quit before him, but his eyes seem to have a mind of their own, constantly wandering over to Gavin and he wonders what he is thinking right then. There’s still guilt churning in Michael’s stomach, even worse now that all of the AH guys are affected by the stupid bet from the day before. He swears to himself that he’ll never take a bet from Ray, again, if they end up like this.

That doesn’t change anything about the current situation, though. Throughout the afternoon, he catches the other guys giving him questioning glances and the only thing he can do is grimace and shrug because he has no idea how to fix this. Ray actually looks sort of contrite and mouths ‘sorry’ at him at some point, but Michael has long since given up on being angry at him for the bet. It’s his own fault for taking it, after all.

"You have to fix it," is the first thing he hears when Gavin has left the room and Michael sighs angrily.

"Yeah, what do you think I tried to do while we were getting food?" he snaps and glares at Ray, who has the grace to look abashed. “He said everything’s fine, what am I supposed to do?" For a moment he thinks Ray is actually going to try and offer advice, but he ends up shrugging, which is very helpful, thanks.

"I have no idea, but the Let’s Plays suck like this."

And Michael hides his face behind his hands because he can’t even protest that. He knows today’s recorded footage is not up to their usual standards, the banter too stiff, there are too many moments of silence between forced jokes. He feels bad about it, but he actually has no idea how to make everything right again. “I’d really like a do-over for yesterday, right now," he mutters and Ray snorts next to him.

"Tell me about it, man. I’m actually really sorry about the bet. And not just because I lost."

And then Gavin comes back and they spend the rest working on their own things and the next time Michael looks up Gavin has already gone home and Ray is the only one still there.

“What?" he asks because he’s not kidding himself, Ray isn’t here because he likes the office so much or actually has something to do, not after a whole afternoon of none of them doing anything but edit videos. “I really am sorry, you know," Ray says, looking at his screen where he’s playing something Michael can’t see.

Michael sort of wants to tell him to shut up and let it be, but Ray continues before he can do so. “I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal. If I’d known he’d react like that I wouldn’t even have suggested the bet."

And the thing is, Michael believes him. Because none of them have known Gavin to react to something with such completely awkwardness and silence before. To see him act so unlike himself is a bad sign and it basically means that the kiss had really shaken him up.

"I just don’t get it," Michael mutters. Ray seems to be deep in thought, himself, until he suddenly shakes his head, never having said anything.

"Never mind, it was a stupid thought," he explains when Michael looks at him questioningly. He is in an awful hurry to leave afterward, though and if Michael weren’t tired and looking forward to getting home, himself, he’d find that strange.

–

The next day starts with a broken alarm clock. Even with how great his job is, Michael just can’t bring himself to look forward to it today. For the longest time, he stays in bed wishing it was the weekend, making himself late for work in the process.

Nobody dares to say anything to him as he slams the door to the office shut, throwing himself into his chair. They just sit there in silence for a few moments and for once Michael is glad of it.

A short glance reveals that Gavin is not in the office right now, but his stuff is there, so he must be around somewhere. Michael isn’t sure about whether to be relieved that he isn’t going to be confronted with Gavin’s silence once more, right away, or disappointed because he can’t start trying to make it up to him somehow again, immediately. He’s stuck in his thoughts, booting up his computer, when the door behind him opens.

"Hi Michael," Gavin says and Michael just about does a double take because of all the things he had expected, this hadn’t been one of them. He had been convinced Gavin was going to ignore him completely, again, so a simple greeting is already a step up from that. And while the smile that is directed him is definitely not as bright as Gavin’s smiles usually are, it’s better than the grimaces they had directed towards each other all day the day before.

"Morning Gavin," he replies, smiling a little and trying to figure out the strong burst of relief he feels about Gavin talking to him again, at the same time. There’s no reason for him to be happy about a ‘good morning’, especially since it’s the only thing Gavin says to him for a while. Ray is smirking at him when Michael looks over at him for a moment. It’s the look of people who know a secret and Michael is about to ask him when Gavin makes a sound of surprise and causes everyone to turn their attention to him – not that he notices, because he’s staring at the screen in front of him.

"We’re both on the podcast today, Michael."

And Michael is torn between relief that Gavin is not going back to the stubborn silence from the day before and horror at the thought of being stuck in a situation where they usually play off of each other to make things even more entertaining while they’re so uncomfortable with one another. But Gavin looks honestly excited about it in that moment and Michael can’t help but smile, warm amusement in his chest because it has been a while since they were on the same podcast.

But then Gavin’s expression changes, gets weirdly nervous and he looks at Ray as if looking for reassurance. Michael has no idea what that’s about, but he doesn’t want to know because it feels like someone drove a fucking spike of ice through his heart, so he instead turns back to his computer to finally finish the rage quit he’d been working on the day before, too. He can’t remember having ever taking so long to edit a rage quit, but it’s not like anyone is doing anything but edit right now, so it doesn’t matter anyway.

The hours crawl by slowly and while Gavin isn’t completely silent anymore, he doesn’t say a lot either, always shooting glances at Michael. He’s about to offer to leave the room if that’s going to make Gavin more comfortable and act as usual because it’s none of the others’ fault that he fucked things up with Gavin, but Ray gets up and decides that he and Gavin are going for lunch right then, not leaving Gavin with much of a choice but to come with him. Michael feels oddly betrayed by the whole thing.

He’s not in the mood to go for lunch, even when the others leave as well, instead choosing to record the next rage quit because he hates the situation he and Gavin seem to be stuck in and he hates that he accepted the bet and he just needs to blow off some steam, so a rage quit it is. It has the side effect that he also has a reason for being more quiet on the podcast that evening, in case someone comments on it.

It turns out the recording of the rage quit ends up taking longer than the lunch break. Because when he finishes up, breathing slowly to get rid of the leftover rage bubbling in his stomach, it only takes a few minutes until Ray is peeking into the room, aiming an apologetic smile at him. “Is it safe to come in?” Considering no controller gets thrown at his face, he answers his own question and bounces over to his chair, followed by Gavin who falls into his and the other guys, who are all giving Michael cautious looks.

So nothing’s really different from any other time Michael records a rage quit – finally something that is as usual, Michael finds himself thinking, snorting and watching with subtle amusement as the others slowly start to relax when Michael doesn’t go back to shouting at the screen. Out of habit, he shoots a mirthful look at Gavin, only for his stomach to abruptly fall when Gavin isn’t even looking at him, staring at his own work with what seems to be single minded concentration.

It feels like loss, the absence of their usual banter. The lack of it becomes even more obvious that evening, when they’re on the podcast and Michael thinks about every word before he actually says it to Gavin and Gavin mostly doesn’t say any words to him at all, barely even looking at him and when he does, they’re just short, almost shy glances. Their jokes are missing, same as the almost flirtatious comments they like to throw in for shit and giggles.

The audience picks up on it, of course and this is the first time Michael curses their twitter. It takes half an hour for the first person to point it out, and then it’s open season. In the space of a few minutes the screen is full of tweets of people are asking if everything’s okay, why they’re not talking, why everyone is so sad. The last one surprises Michael, because he’d considered everyone more tense than sad, but now that it’s been mentioned he can see where the fan is coming from even if he still wouldn’t necessarily consider the atmosphere to be sad. It’s more like everyone is moping, he thinks with bitter amusement.

They do their best to ignore the questions, they have enough other things to talk about and it’s nobody’s business what’s going on between Gavin and him, anyway, Michael figures. Besides, they don’t even know if everything’s okay, themselves, so he wouldn’t be able to answer that question honestly. But wow, their watchers are stubborn little fuckers. They continue tweeting and more and more people mention how Gavin looks sad.

And at some point it just gets awkward, reading the same tweet over and over again, just worded differently. They all heave a sigh of relief when Burnie clicks away from the twitter, apparently deciding to ignore the questions on it for today. But the thought is stuck in Michael’s head now. Does Gavin really look sad? He can’t look at him directly without it becoming obvious, so he watches the screen showing them, trying to figure it out, but he’s not sure.

He doesn’t know what’s sadness and what’s tiredness with Gavin. On the rare occasions when Gavin actually has been sad, so far, it looked remarkably like when he just hadn’t slept well – and really, both probably go hand in hand with him. But the point is, Gavin is an incredibly positive person, he is rarely sad and even less often so sad that he feels the need to talk to someone about it. Which basically means that Michael can’t actually be sure whether or not Gavin looks sad at the moment.

Wow, and does he feel like an asshole because of it. He has no idea how he makes it through the rest of the podcast, with Gavin being all that is on his mind, but as soon as it’s over, Michael turns to him.

"You need a ride home, right?" he says before Gavin can think of a reason to bolt, because he definitely looks like he wants to. “Geoff’s probably gone home by now, I can drive you."

Behind Gavin, Burnie is giving him an approving nod and that basically tells Michael that in case Geoff hasn’t gone home yet, at least there’s now someone who’ll let him know Michael drove Gavin home, already.

For a moment it looks like Gavin is going to refuse and Michael’s heart drops. But then Gavin just sort of sighs and smiles halfheartedly. “Sure. Thanks, Michael."

–

They end up sitting in the car, Gavin staring out of the window, while Michael stares at Gavin. “Michael, don’t."

"What?" Surprised, Michael pauses thinking about how he’s going to start talking for a moment. He hasn’t even said anything yet!

"You’re going to ask about the sad thing. I can tell, Michael." The last part of it is said with a bitter smile and at least that’s an expression Michael recognizes, even if it’s not one of Gavin’s most common ones.

"You’re not fine, are you?" he asks, because that’s the only thing he can think of saying and he wants to break something at how uncertain Gavin looks when he hears the question.

"Michael-"

"If I’d known the kiss would bother you so much I wouldn’t have done it." For a moment it looks like Gavin is going to bolt after all, but then his whole body just… drops.

"Oh, my little Michael," he says and there’s the bitter smile again, but there’s also a vulnerability in his voice that sends up red flags in Michael’s mind. He doesn’t know what to expect, but he knows he’ll have to be careful dealing with it. “It bothered me way too little. That’s the problem, Michael."

It takes a moment for that to sink in, but when it does, Michael just stares at Gavin for a few seconds. He… well, to be honest he isn’t entirely sure what to do with that admission.

"So you didn’t mind the kiss?" Michael asks, just to make sure he understood that right and Gavin nods, still unable to look him in the eyes and is he blushing? And then what Gavin said actually makes it into Michael’s brain. “So why were you ignoring me the last two days if you didn’t fucking mind the kiss?"

He isn’t angry though, just very confused because Gavin’s behavior is a complete mystery to him. And this time Gavin is definitely blushing, there’s no way he’s just imagining it. “It was a bet for you, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, duh!" Michael waits for an explanation to follow, but Gavin just bites his lip and looks out of the window.

"Exactly."

And Michael doesn’t know what he means, even though he has the feeling that he really should. Gavin seems to be waiting for him to say something but he has no idea what, so he just tries to figure it out, until Gavin laughs and shakes his head tiredly.

"Forget it, Michael. Just… can you take me home, please? I’m really tired." So that’s what Michael does, with the feeling that he just somehow fucked up sitting like a heavy stone in his chest.

He spends the evening doing something that, he has to admit, might seem very much like moping but is definitely not. He’s just thinking about what Gavin said, never mind the fact that he’s staring at nothing and definitely not cursing himself for having seemingly broken their friendship. He also definitely doesn’t call Ray shortly after midnight to curse at him for thinking of the bet, because he has come back to that with his thoughts and is now at ‘what if there hadn’t been a bet’ once more.

Ray is still awake when he calls, and that manages to piss off Michael even more, because he deserves to be woken up for being the one to think that giving Gavin a kiss wouldn’t result in a disaster and he tells him that, doesn’t even wait for Ray to get a word in before he continues ranting about how he’d tried to fix it and that Gavin is always speaking in riddles so he still doesn’t know what the actual problem is and how he hates it for their jokes to be missing from his day.

"-and that idiot still won’t tell me more than that he didn’t mind and oh, that it was a bet and – WHAT!" Because Ray is laughing quietly and Michael is just about ready to strangle him through the phone if he doesn’t stop because this is serious-

"You sound like you’re in the middle of a rage quit."

"I’ll fucking rage quit you if you don’t fucking stop laughing!"

"Sorry, sorry," Ray wheezes, but is still giggling under his breath. “It’s just… you’re both idiots."

And Michael is about to say something scathing, but Ray doesn’t stop talking and now there’s a grin in his voice.

"Gavin likes you."

Oh.

That’s actually not what Michael expected and he must keep quiet for so long that Ray actually gets concerned, because all traces of laughter are gone from his voice when he asks if he’s still there. Shaking himself out of the shock, Michael just makes an acknowledging sound and ignores when Ray obviously wants to say something to say bye and hang up.

For a minute Michael just sort of… stares at the phone in his hand in shock and doesn’t know what to do with that information. Gavin likes him. Huh. It makes a crazy sort of sense, especially with what he’d said in the car that day and oh god, Ray was right, he had been an idiot for not getting it.

The problem is, he thinks, as he slowly puts his phone down while it’s buzzing because Ray is calling him back and as he moves towards his bedroom, what is he supposed to do now that he knows that?

He spends way too long deliberating that question, his first thought being that he’s not actually into Gavin. Then his brain reminds him of the kiss and of the way he feels sometimes when Gavin’s being his usual dumb self and, well. Maybe he is a little into Gavin, after all. But does he want to risk their friendship for a maybe? He almost laughs bitterly at that thought, because he’d pretty much destroyed it with the initial kiss, already, so there’s not really a way it can get any worse.

He still spends hours tossing and turning and thinking about how he’s going to approach the situation on the next day, though, until he tells himself that, fuck, he’s acting like an idiot and that he’ll just wait and see and that’s when he finally falls asleep. It still feels like he’s only slept for ten minutes when his phone wakes him the next day, his alarm clock still broken. The only reason why he doesn’t break his phone too when it tears him out of his dreams is because he needs it.

Even with how tired he is, Michael is actually kind of looking forward to work, that day. Mostly because he now has an idea of what he is going to do and how to fix everything. So when Michael gets to work that day, he just walks into the office, ignoring the slightly anxious look Ray aims at him and grabs onto Gavin before leaving the room again. He ignores Gavin’s confused sputtering and the way he’s tripping over himself trying to keep up with Michael as he is pulled to the studio where they usually film the podcast.

Pushing Gavin against the wall next to the door, Michael glares at him. “Why the fuck didn’t you just tell me you like me, you little fuck?"

It comes out a bit more aggressive than he’d intended, but he spent two days thinking he’d destroyed their friendship, he’s allowed to curse, okay?

"What?" Gavin squeaks and tries to shrink back against the wall, but Michael just pulls back a little and keeps staring at him.

"I thought I’d destroyed our friendship and then it’s that? You could have fucking told me, Gavin!"

"Well, you thought a kiss was enough to destroy our friendship, imagine what I thought would happen if I told you I like you!" Gavin tries to defend himself, but Michael’s not having it.

"Well, guess what, turns out I like you too! Now can we please make out without not talking to each other for two days, afterward?" He doesn’t know where the last part comes from, he didn’t intend to say it but oh well, Gavin is there and is sort of complying already, and then they’re kissing and well. That went well.

Michael is definitely not complaining, not until Gavin pushes him away a little and looks at him searchingly. “This is not another bet, is it?" he asks warily and Michael shakes his head.

"Definitely not." After another moment of searching looks, Gavin nods.

"Okay."

And then they’re kissing again and yes, it’s good right up until Gus opens the door, lets out a unintelligible noise of shock and slams it shut again, causing them to jump away from each other.

"Goddammit," Michael curses, because his lips are tingling and his heart is pounding and he would really like to kiss Gavin some more but they have to work. Gavin is smiling at him with a slight blush, most likely because they were caught and Michael smiles back and they probably look like fucking lovestruck idiots but he can’t even bring himself to care right then, or even when they arrive back in the office and Ray is giving them a knowing smile and everyone else is pointedly looking away.

–

Two months later a video of the first kiss, the one that was a bet goes online, long after they’ve started telling people and Michael dunks Ray in the pool because of it and Gavin can’t help but laugh and laugh and laugh and Michael lets up and laughs at Ray as well, because he looks a little like a drowned rat and really, who knows how long it would have taken him to catch on if not for the bet. He should probably thank him for it, even… but no, it’s much more fun to dunk him just once more.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as an askbox fic and then it became long. I remember why I hate editing, now. 
> 
> It’s still for heresthefuckyoubutton, and I still wish I could understand where the English language puts its commas.
> 
> I also tried working from an unreliable narrator's view, but I have no idea if it worked completely. I had fun, though.


End file.
